Hi, this year, I decided to get a few miniature tall bearded iris rather than getting more tall bearded iris.
I love the tall bearded but want some foreground or smaller plants. I do have a few dwarf varieties, but do not have any MTBs.
Are there any fans here? Does anyone have any tips about growing them? Is there anything special about planting or growing them?

Thanks!

I grow quite a few MTBs. They are, on the average, more vigorous and carefree than TBs. Wonderful plants, really. The only downsides to them are that the individual flowers don't have the visual impact that TB flowers have and TBs come in a much broader array of colors and patterns. That's slowly changing, though. They also bloom roughly at the same time as TBs, so aren't very useful as season extenders.

thank you kent. i appreciate the info. haven't been too successful with iris shorter than ib's in this garden. however, others in this county have. i guess it's the pocket of microclimate where i live, or my skills.( )

but, that information is very helpful, should we decide to move again to a different hort. zone.

If you can grow IBs, it should be easy to grow MTBs.

The difficulty with growing medians in warmer zones traces back to Iris pumila. To greatly oversimplify things, Iris pumila is native to steppes and mountainous areas of eastern Europe and it struggles in hot humid environments. Again grossly oversimplifying, SDBs originally got about half of their DNA from Iris pumila and half from TBs with IB's getting about a quarter of their DNA from Iris pumila and the rest from TBs. This pumila heritage is why SDBs and IBs bloom before TBs and it's also why they generally do better with colder, drier weather.

However, MTBs typically don't have much, if any, DNA from Iris pumila. MTBs mostly trace back to TBs and the species they were derived from like Iris pallida, Iris aphylla, and Iris variegata. They'll grow under a wide variety of conditions, but do best with the same Mediterranean climate that TBs thrive in.

As a hybridizer of MTBs welcome to the club. There are now tets as well as diploids in the class. If it's pink, it is a tet. Stephanie Markham here in MA is a specialist--Think Spring is very vigorous. MTBs are introduced by Mid-America & Aitkens in the west.
My 'Ginger Treat'


My 'Elfin Shadows'

both are diploid. You will find MTBs at Judy Schneider's garden in TX as she has the national collection. Winterberry Iris Garden sells MTBs in the East.

Thanks for the growing information. My area is basically very arid and hot. In fact I really had to put my tall beardeds in an area where they are partially shaded for some of the day. On the other hand I have had good results with the dwarf bearded types. It looks like I will need to do some more research about the Iris Pumila types. Also if anywhere is "Mediterranean" this is.